A tortoise tale in which Ìjàpá abandons his market stall to judge a fight between a shrew rat and a squirrel, takes a side, and loses his nose for it, with the Yorùbá text of the Jómijó song.
The Yorùbá wey dem quote, the proverbs, oríkì, ẹsẹ Ifá, word list headwords, Odù names and citations dey exactly as the corpus record dem, for every language.
Dis na short tori of tortoise wey dey explain why tortoise nose small. Ìjàpá leave im goods without person to watch am for market go look fight between Asín (shrew rat) and Òkéré (squirrel), put imself as judge, support squirrel, and shrew rat bite im nose hold tight. E get song of five lines with chorus Jómijó, wey dey published for Yorùbá with English translation from one informant wey dem name .
Omolaye first describe di two animals before e tell di tori, and dis one show how dis kind tori dey work: di explanation of how things take happen depend on knowing di animals .
Asín, shrew rat, na small rat wey get long mouth and special smell. Omolaye note say e no get anywhere wey shrew rat dey wey person no go perceive im smell .
Òkéré, squirrel, na small rat wey get bushy tail wey dey jump from one tree go another, and e like palm fruit well well .
Di long mouth wey shrew rat get na wetin make di end of di tori clear according to body structure: di animal wey bite hold tight dey naturally built for dat exact thing.
As Elder Adeoye Olarewaju tell am, age 75, of Akodi-Aga, Ile-Ifẹ̀, wey dem record for 3 February 2022 .
For olden days, when animals dey talk like human being, tortoise dey sell plate dem. One day e carry im plate dem go market go sell. As e dey sell, e hear say fight dey happen, and e quickly leave im goods go look di fight.
When e reach there e see Asín and Òkéré dey fight. Ìjàpá decide say e go settle di fight, but e use sentiment judge di matter: e support di squirrel and blame di shrew rat.
When Asín see say Ìjàpá dey do one-sided judgement, e leave di squirrel completely, face tortoise, and bite im nose. Ìjàpá shout with heavy pain and begin to sing.
Call: Asín tòun t'ò kéré Response: Jómijó Call: Àwon ló jo n jà Response: Jómijó Call: L'a sín bá fi mí nímú je Response: Jómijó Call: Ègbà mí ló wó rè Response: Jómijó Call: Àwò mi n be ló jà Response: Jómijó
Translator: Bamidele Omolaye
Call: Di Shrew rat and di Squirrel Response: Jómijó Call: Di two dey fight Response: Jómijó Call: Shrew bite my nose Response: Jómijó Call: Save me from im hand Response: Jómijó Call: My plate dem dey market Response: Jómijó
Note dem on di translation and di diacritics. Di article no print subdots anywhere for inside im Yorùbá , so Àwon stand for Àwọn, je for jẹ, Ègbà for Ẹ̀gbà, Àwò for Àwo, and n for di continuous marker ń. Dem print di text as e dey without correcting am, but dem mark am out. Di word-by-word meaning na di compiler own, wey e build on top Omolaye English, and na why e get medium confidence. Jómijó na chorus wey no get direct meaning and Omolaye leave am like dat without translating am; di corpus no give any meaning for am.
Di last line for di song na di one wey important pass, and di translation no fit show say na di main punchline like di way performance dey show am. Dem dey bite Ìjàpá for face, yet e still dey think about im shed. Four lines report di danger and di fifth line report di market goods wey e leave without person to look am, so immediately after e beg for rescue, im main worry follow. Di corpus observe dis same kind self-interest under trouble for di drum tori, alo-ijapa-singing-drum.
As Ìjàpá dey sing with pain, oda market people and passers-by come save am. But shrew rat don already spoil im nose with di long bite before dem pull am commot. Na why tortoise nose short and bend till today.
Di way di tori take work na say person wey appoint imself as judge wey no do fair judgement go join inside di fight. Ìjàpá no get any standing for dis fight. Dem no ask am to judge am, e no be relative to any of di two animals, and e no even be ordinary looker wey no get wetin e go lose, since im goods dey market wey nobody dey look am as e dey do dis thing. E put im mouth inside, take side based on sentiment instead of facts, and di party wey dem cheat come face am with full attack. Asín no just vex for di judgement; e "ignore di squirrel," wey mean say di first fight scatter completely once judge wey dey do partiality show face. Di bad judgement replace di quarrel wey e suppose settle.
Omolaye state wetin make dem dey tell di tori: to change children mindset make dem no dey use sentiment, teach dem make dem mind dia own business, and, di most important one for im account, make dem stay far from fight and trouble . Di proverb material for inside corpus on top dis same matter dey for owe-enmity-quarrel-reconciliation, and di material on judgement and standing dey for owe-justice-judgement-court.
Di tori also be lesson about di cost of distraction wey person pay double for am. Ìjàpá lose im nose forever and, from wetin di last line of di song show, e very possible say e lose im plates join, and di two loss come from dat single decision to leave im shed go look fight. Di corpus mark as analysis di observation say di punishment land on di face, di part of di body wey person dey use look: tortoise go look wetin no concern am, and di tori collect di instrument wey e use look.
Dis na one of di group of tori for inside dis section wey dey explain how tortoise body take be. alo-why-the-tortoise-shell-is-marked bring togeda di four documented tori about di shell wey get mark or wey break. Dis tori dey explain di nose, and at least one modern source give alo-ijapa-and-the-babalawo ending wey explain di hollow belle, even though im scholarly transcription no get dat kind ending.
Di pattern across di group dey consistent and e make sense to state am: dem dey treat di shape of tortoise body like record of di bad tins wey e do. Di shell get mark bikos dem smash am for theft, di nose short bikos e judge fight with wayo. owe-tortoise-ijapa-trickster show say dis same logic dey work inside di proverb records, where di body dey serve as di argument.
yorubatales.com carry one version wey get di title "Why Ijapa's Nose Is Very Small (Ijapa, Asin and Okere)" , wey show say di tori still dey circulate with di same characters. We no quote any text from am, bikos di site no give attribution per tori. Di compiler no find second scholarly transcription, and di record wey dem check no talk anything about regional variation.
Na evening tori, wey dem treat for yoruba-alo; di music side dey described inside Omolaye article . Dis na short tori wey get only one song, wey make am fit well for di youngest listeners, and dem state di moral lesson directly as instruction instead of to leave am make person guess.
The evening storytelling tradition, the call-and-response frame that opens it, riddles as a separate discipline, and the Ìjàpá cycle read as a body of ethical and comic literature.
Twenty-nine Yorùbá proverbs built around Àjàpá the tortoise, the tradition's central trickster animal, presented with the original, a literal gloss, a named translation, and the situation each is spoken in.
A tortoise tale in which Ìjàpá tastes a fertility medicine prepared for his wife three times and dies of it, with the Yorùbá text of the Alugbinrin pleading song from a named informant.
The Yorùbá tradition holds no single account of the marks on the tortoise's shell, and this file sets the four sourced narratives side by side to show what varies and what does not.
The one modern peer-reviewed source in this section that names its informants and prints Yorùbá song text, and the one defect in it that governs how every song from it is reproduced.
Sourced Yorùbá proverbs on what starts and escalates a quarrel, how an enemy is handled, and the limits of grudge and revenge.